Mike Doughty made a name for himself as front-man of the band Soul Coughing, but it’s a period of his life that was marked by insecurity and heavy drug use. He describes these struggles in his new memoir, “The Book of Drugs.”

And yet–he’s well-acquainted with the chaos, destruction and despair that addiction causes. He confesses: “I loathe myself in a lot of these stories.”

When asked if he ever thought about what the drugs might have done to his brain, his answer is blunt: “No.”

“It was basically all I had – the only worthwhile thing in the world for me. There were instances where it was clear that I might have died – and that wasn’t an enticement to stop because if you’ve only got one good thing in life – you’ve gotta live for it.”

Doughty says the drugs shut off what he called a “core of self-loathing,” but ultimately it stood between him and the music he wanted to make.